The "Jharugandi" Brigade

THE “JHARUGANDI” BRIGADE


The most peaceful experience it used to be every year, to climb the difficult mountain range of seven mountains to the abode of Lord Venkateshwara. Over tens yrs I was for some strange reason or the other unable to make it for darshan. This time around with a number of adjustments in terms of dates and convenience and suitability we finally made the reservations to undertake the long journey to Tirupati from Bangalore.

Being arthritic I made it to the temple with difficulty after over two hrs of waiting and seeing people at times breaking Q’s nudging pushing and getting ahead In spite of the rough handling by most of the TTD staff in and around the sanctum sanctorum I kept my cool and tried to concentrate on the "darshan". Just when I got inside the inner most precincts with folded hands, my hand was suddenly held rudely and I was given a swift push with the words ‘jharungandi’thus dismantling the namaste position and ruining my peace while causing pain in my wrist. In a reflex reaction I elbowed the girl and proceeded ahead sandwiched between a number of devotees, barely saw the lord as we were hurled forward again, lost concentration and was wondering if the whole exercise was worth it when suddenly four to five TTD staff came, blocked my path and asked me to get aside.

They started shouting, “How dare you….” “What right have u got….”etc while pushing me by my shoulder. I was taken aback and kept walking ahead into another Q for prasadam. Just when I thought it was all over and very distasteful, there were another four men ganged up with the four girls and they asked me to step aside and harassed me as to why I pushed her and told me to march up to the police station for a complaint of ‘assault’ against me! And all the while I thought I was the one who should have complained to the authorities for their unruly behaviour. The events took an ugly turn when they brushed aside my husband who was apologizing profusely to them in order to diffuse the pent up anger and close the issue as a huge crowd had gathered in the temple premises and things started getting out of hand when they ganged up and started abusing him too. Now I was hell bent on defending my stance but was not allowed to speak, as my voice could not rise above the din. Finally when I did speak they told me it was their’duty’ to push people and keep them moving and I told them politely that it was my duty to 'defend' myself. We kept moving out of the temple and they followed till a point from where they had to turn back and that was like the line in a kabbadi match. In spite of their strength and number we got out of this tricky situation only after apologizing profusely to the girl in question without even knowing my crime!
The best thing that arose out of the situation was that the hundreds of devotees who were behind us got a peaceful darshan without the “jharugandi” brigade who are like the powerful mafia of Tirupati, roughing them up. Lucky them and poor me. My mind was clouded by the incident long after and it obliterated the image of the lord which I could only register in under 3 seconds quite vaguely.. Wonder then if it’s worth all the effort to go to Tirupati after much planning for a 3 second darshan and a whole lot of “jharungandi” instead of the chanting of ‘OM……….”in the background.

LESSER MORTALS

“These bloody dogs...getting under my car all the time and whining through the night….”shouted one of the neighbors of this sprawling multistory building in disgust as he rushed off to office to rake in the coffers and provide more and more comforts for his family and himself. True…. they are dogs but somehow I can’t bring myself to call them that.... like a derogatory remark….The poor animals did not ask to be born thus and man’s avarice for more cannot bring himself to show kindness to the downtrodden much less feed the harmless things some food. They inadvertently and inevitably guard and protect the houses of these rich heartless people despite their despicable behavior.

This part of me to love them and feel for them did not arise out of the fact that I own two beautiful intelligent adorable playful labs myself but was always dormant in me ever since I could understand and sense pain as a child. Earlier I used to curse shout and try to reform such neighbors but now feel that to set an example, precepts rather than preachings is the time tested mantra and so I fondle them and play with them and love them deliberately whenever someone is showing annoyance towards them.
Life’s like that....being starlwarts in their work field and earning the millions and going to temples and offering silk cloth and other monetary offerings wont get u half the so called “punya”but kindness towards the needy specially the creatures who suffer pain but cant tell, will get u closer to God. It’s not for nothing they say God shines through people and its time people started shining like God would have loved them to.

untitled

She has this unsatiating appetite for more and her continued nagging resulted in the posting of this bog which id like to call'Pure continuation..!!'
If at all there was a model child this was her. No midnight bawling no unearthly pukings no demands no tantrums ... in fact a no frills baby!
she can never say anything wrong .. in fact she always seems to say the right things when my moods swing which is more often than not!Shes taught me to chill, be net savvy and outgoing and i feel so much younger cos of all these changes i made in my life.
Like the umbilical chord this blog is just bet me and her. She was put under the knife when she was two for a suspected malignant lump and i dont remember nursing her back to normal like i did for jolie. But she managed without a wimper.
She fell off a horse and had her upper teeth in her lower jaw and drank milk through a straw for a week without complaining.
She had chicken pox and i was loaded with guests and couldnt be there for her but she coped silently.
Wish I had her patience and forbearance cos when i complain of aches and pains I feel guilty..shes always been there for me unlike the way i let her manage and fend for herself.. but today she is a strong girl mentally and physically cos shes learnt to deal with situations without the proverbial support systems cos i was a bad mother which she has never pointed out to me but i can read in her eyes.
She is 'pure pleasure' to have and im glad she's my child

lifes journey

She definitely was meant to be snooty and independent and successful as well as authoritative which i can say by the way she was born with her nose up in the air!!!She refused to wail until whacked and then let out a little sob and then we knew she was alive and kicking though her eyes remained shut like that for a week!
We named her 'Pavitra' aptly as she is pure in thoughts and deeds and is allergic to summing up people as she believes in the saying " God himself does not judge a person until the end of his days ...why should u and i"
lifes journey was a big rollercoaster ride after that and this pretty miss has now landed in the UK to do her masters in Media Management and needless to say has discovered her talent for writing and blogs about lifes varied facets in an inimitable style............story not over yet as she has managed to rope in her mom who is quite a nincompooh to blog as well and my first ever post would naturally be about the apple of my eye my pure hearted Pavitra!